I know, I know... I said I would stop with the first Disc, because of the cost. But it turns out that there are only six episodes, so it, in the end, does not cost an arm and a leg. Just an arm. I mean, six episodes split up among three DVDs. That still, in the end, costs a lot. Let's face it, the music is cool, the artwork is amazing and the story is nonsense. It is just pure fun. Maybe even more fun if you do drugs. In these episodes we have baseball but only one robot. And it does not even come out of Naota's head. Then there's the cat ears and the curry. The extras are nice, such as the outakes, but in the end it still costs too much! Still, only one disc left to go.
You're the cat Alas, poor Naota. Not only does he consider his life totally uneventful and boring, but strange things continue to emerge from his head.
And while there's a brief lull of (relative) normalcy in the second volume of "FLCL (Fooly Cooly)," don't expect it to last for long. The third and fourth episodes of this most bizarre of animes grow even more surreal as Naoto tackles descending satellites, giant eyebrows, batting and a hi-tech doppelganger of someone close to him. And it's finally revealed just why things keep coming out of his head.
Naota is understandably annoyed when he's forced to be the cat in a school production of "Puss in Boots," and the mayor's daughter Ninamori is constantly nagging him. Ninamori has some problems of her own, since her parents are going to divorce and her father may be arrested, so the faux-cynical girl is obsessively focusing on the school play.
But when she touches Naota's latest cranial eruption -- a pair of cat ears -- Ninamori gets infected with whatever is affecting Naota. And Ninamori's true motives for the school play are revealed... right before another cranial eruption causes mass mayhem at Naota's school. Can he somehow save his classmate, or will Haruko have to come to the rescue with superspicy curry?
And that was the normal episode, for your information. What follows more than makes up for the lack of surreality.
Naota technically plays baseball, but cannot bring himself to ever swing the bat -- except, we find, when he's swinging at machines. And he finds himself troubled and jealous when he hears his father and Haruko seemingly having sex -- and further confused when a strange man with monstrous eyebrows comes in, and gives him cryptic advice about Haruko. Apparently this guy not only knows her, but knows her strange goals.
Naoto's vaguely Oedipal problems come to a head -- literally -- when he whacks his robotic dad dead... only to find out what Haruko has been trying to do to his REAL dear ol' dad. Oh yes, and a satellite with a bomb on board is about to strike the city they live in, and Haruko's batting skills may be the only thing between humanity and mass devastation.
"FLCL (Fooly Cooly)" is an anime so bizarre, so surreal, so headscratchingly wacky that you cannot watch it without wondering if someone spiked your drink. And it takes the opportunity to mock many of the tropes in anime series -- not-so-subtle sexual overtones ("If I rush, it won't pop. Go slow!"), underwear, insane alien girls, random monsters appearing, and alien robots.
And while the third episode is weird, the fourth is a cornucopia of utter strangeness -- including hallucinations, energy guitars, the Galaxy Patrol and a mummy. The plot starts off with a relatively ordinary story about rival baseball teams, but somewhere along the way it mutates. After Naota whacks his "dad" on the head, the plot starts spinning out of control -- climaxing in a psychedelic scene where Naota must bat to save his city... or something like that.
A few questions do get answered in the second volume of "FLCL (Fooly Cooly)" -- in particular, we find out why Haruko whacked people with her guitar, and why strange things keep coming out of Naota's head. It doesn't make much more sense, but we still know.
Naota still affects a too-cool-and-mature-to-care attitude, but the strangeness of his life is starting to get to him -- and he's obviously developing an interest in Haruko. And he's increasingly surrounded by troubled girls, including the bossy Ninamori, whose also-too-cool-to-care attitude hides her feelings about her parents' divorce and her father's possible imprisonment. And Haruko... is Haruko. Wild, unpredictable, mildly psycho and strangely fascinating.
The second volume of the mad, mad, mad and colourful "FLCL (Fooly Cooly)" only has two episodes, but those episodes are among the strangest in all of anime. Especially the second one. Fooly cooly!
Much worse than I ever imagined After enjoying "Cowboy Bebop" and "Samurai Champloo", someone recommended checking out "FLCL" aka "Fooly Cooly." If you enjoyed those previous titles, I would suggest steering clear of this particular anime. The art is interesting enough but the story is simply lacking, the characters are completely and utterly undeveloped. It almost seems like they are making fun of you for watching their anime. This the second dvd of three and has 40 minutes of programming. I read somewhere that this was not even a real show and that they threw it together to test out new animation techniques-- if you've seen all 6 episodes and are still wondering "what the heck was that" this does not seem to be untrue. Please I strongly suggest you skip watching this program because it is, simply put, garbage.
WHAT IS THIS COMING OUT OF MY HEAD? I have to admit that I was a little dumbfounded after watching Volume 1 of FLCL and was debating on whether or not I should view Volume 2. But there was something about it, just some momentary little flashes of brillance that made me push on to this installment. Volume 2 seems to hold back a little on the insanity, or maybe it just seems that way because I've become adjusted to the surreal and crazy format. Anyway, the first of the two episodes on this disk concerns Ninamori, a classmate of Naota, who on the surface, seems to have it all. She's popular, rich, and her dad is the mayor! But beneath it all, her family is breaking up because of her cheating father and in a shojoesque turn, she's not such a good girl as everyone thinks. But maybe her crush on Naota will help her come out of her shell. Or maybe some horrifying alien coming out of her might do the trick!
The second episode is a take-off of baseball, with the alien Haruko opposing the former team of Naota's brother. With her pitching, there's no way any human can even get a hit. Maybe if Naota would lower himself to get some coaching on his swing from Haruko, things would change. That's if Naota doesn't take a swing at his bum of a father first. Imagine the nerve of the old pervert massaging Haruko with the stubble of his beard! On top of that, there's a bomb heading straight at the Earth!
The animation and vivacity of FLCL is just beautiful. It might not make much sense plot-wise, but it's one of the most stimulating anime I have ever seen. The characterization alone is light years beyond what passes for emotion and nuance in other productions. One of the funniest scenes is where a flying Naota, after being ran over by Haruko's Vespa scooter makes a slow motion Matrix bullet time approach to a kiss with Ninamori! The somewhat serious scenes are handled with just as much finesse as the surrealism of the comedy and action. Great experimental show!
FLCL Volumes 1 - 3 This series must get an award for simple originality. None of the characters follow the same anime stereotypes we've come to know as anime fans. The conflict is everchanging but never out of reach. You always know what is going on, in other words. And to add to that, it has a great J-pop soundtrack. If you're tired of those stories about a male Japanese boy surrounded by many beatiful women--and who isn't--this is where to go to regenerate your love for this type of anime.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
